In a nutshell: Dell has launched its first Snapdragon-powered laptop, and it is priced under $500. The new Inspiron 14 is a Windows 11-powered machine sporting a 14.0-inch FHD (1,920 x 1,080) anti-glare LED screen (non-touch). On the inside is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 Compute Platform alongside Adreno 690 graphics, 8GB of LPDDR4x memory and a 256GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD.

Expansion ports include two USB 3.2 Gen2 Type C ports, a USB 2.0 Type A port and a headset jack as well as a micro-SD card reader. A standard 1080p webcam sits atop the display and is flanked by dual microphones. Connectivity-wise, you get dual-band Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 support.

A two-cell, 40Wh battery can reportedly provide up to 16 hours of local HD video playback. Thanks to the Snapdragon chip and the SSD, buyers will also enjoy a noiseless experience.

Dell's Inspiron 14 measures 0.75 inches (18.99mm) at its thickest point, is 12.74 inches wide (323.67mm) and 8.65 inches deep (219.76mm), and weighs 3.18 pounds (1.44kg). It only comes in one color – silver – and the keyboard is not backlit.

The machine is offered in just one Snapdragon configuration (with the specs listed above) and carries a price tag of $499.99. According to Dell's online store, orders placed today should arrive by March 23.

If you are not sold on the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 (which was first announced in September 2020 and has since been succeeded by the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3), there are traditional x86 options to choose from for the Inspiron 14. A model with a Ryzen 7 5825U processor and Radeon graphics from AMD is also available, as is a configuration sporting an Intel Core i7-1255U chip with Irix Xe graphics. Both the AMD and Intel systems include twice as much memory (with higher frequencies, too) and double the SSD storage space but will set you back a bit more.

The AMD system commands $579.99 while the Intel setup goes for $649.99, and both can be delivered this week.